Method for inducing viral resistance into a plant

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for inducing resistance to a virus comprising a TGB3 sequence with the proviso that it is not the potato virus X, into a plant cell or plant, comprising the following steps: preparing a nucleic acid construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to at least 70% of the nucleic acid sequence of TGB3 of said virus or its corresponding cDNA, being operably linked to one or more regulatory sequence(s) active in a plant, transforming a plant cell with the nucleic acid construct, and possibly regenerating a transgenic plant from the transformed plant cell. The present invention is also related to the plant obtained.

Description

This is the U.S. national phase under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 371 of International Application PCT / BE97 / 00092, filed Aug. 18, 1997.1. Field of the inventionThe present invention is related to a method for inducing viral resistance into a cell and plant, especially BNYVV-resistance into a sugar beet cell and plant and the viral resistant cell and plant obtained.2. Background of the invention and state of the artThe widespread viral disease of the sugar beet plant (Beta vulgaris), called Rhizomania is caused by a furovirus (as used herein, the term "furovirus" is used in the sense that term was used at the time of filing, which was prior to the taxonomic reclassification effected by the Seventh Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in 2000), the beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV)(23, 24) which is transmitted to the root of the beet by the soilborne fungus Polymixa betae (25).The disease affects significantly acreages of the area where the sugar beet plant is grown...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides the use of an alternative sequence of plant virus, especially the BNYVV, to obtain a high degree of tolerance to the viral infection, in particular to ensure a rapid and total blocking of virus multiplication and diffusion mechanisms in a plant, especially in the sugar beet plant (Beta vulgaris), including fodder beet, Swiss Whard and table beet, which may also be subject to this viral infection. Expression of the resistance will be obtained in transgenic cell and plant, especially sugar beet cells and plants produced by the transformation method subject to the Patent Application WO95 / 10178 or by other transformation methods based on Agrobacterium tumefaciens or direct gene transfer. Because of its high efficiency, the transformation method as described in WO95 / 10178 enables the production of large numbers of transformated plants, especially sugar beet plants, and will be preferred to develop transgenic plants which may be analysed and characterized for their level of viral resistance, especially BNYVV Resistance, including their field evaluation.

Problems solved by technology

Though sugar beet is known as a recalcitrant species in cell culture, limiting the extent of practical genetic engineering applications in that species, there are number of isolated reports of successful transformation and regeneration of whole plants (38).

However, when these transgenic plants were challenged with PVX, there was no protection against PVX suggesting that the OK protein does not play a role in the protection against PVX.

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